After the state began requiring all deaths in custody to be reported, the Virginia Department of Justice Services says 15% of 2024 in-custody deaths weren’t documented properly. A legislative proposal by Del. Cia Price would more fully specify reporting requirements and add a layer of potential penalties for agencies that don’t fulfill them.
Price said it’s not “a big ask.”
“We work really hard to make sure that the people of Virginia are taken care of, including those who are in custody, incarcerated, being detained,” the Democrat said last week. “I was in fact disappointed to hear that the reports were not turned in from all of the entities that they were due from.”
Both federal and state legislation already allow some grant money to be withheld from local and regional jails, local and state police, and the department of corrections if reporting requirements aren’t met. But Price’s bill expands the possible repercussions to other revenue streams. It also enables budget language to alter funding — though the proposal leaves that power to the governor’s discretion.
Price said the fiscal penalties wouldn’t be automatically implemented to allow Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration to handle the issue in a manner it saw as appropriate. While she didn’t include more heavy-handed language, Price said that if necessary, she’d return next General Assembly session for further adjustments.
Under the Democrat’s initial 2024 bill, DCJS was required to submit an annual report collecting in-custody deaths data from each local and state agency that included demographic and other background information. Using that information, recommendations to ensure incarcerated people’s safety were to be made. Instead, a panel of former law enforcement and corrections staff determined the data was “not sufficient for the purpose of making recommendations that could reduce deaths.”
Fatimah Muwahhid’s husband, Talib, is currently incarcerated at the Greensville Correctional Center, just south of Jarratt. She said Talib dying in state custody is her greatest fear.
“Someone like my husband — who's active and trying to do better — this legislation reinforces that the state is responsible for their safety and their well-being,” said Muwahhid, who spoke in favor of Price’s bill multiple times this session. “I think they negate that a lot, right? You just put a number on them, and they're just a number. But this signals that the incarcerated person's life has some kind of value — that any loss of life should be scrutinized.”
For the Muwahhids, there’s also a religious component to the considerations. Price’s bill would require that after an in-custody death, agencies are required to notify the state within 10 days, potentially expediting family notification. Muslims, Muwahhid said, have specific burial considerations that could be compromised if family members aren’t promptly notified.
Price’s legislation received an 11 to 2 vote during a Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services committee hearing last week; two absences were recorded. Republican Sens. Bill DeSteph and Timmy French voted against the proposal.
DeSteph’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
During a January House committee hearing, Price said she felt “significant frustration” after reading the DCJS report and later discussed her disappointment around needing to refine the state legislation that ostensibly reinforces a federal dictate.
“Just because someone gets incarcerated doesn't mean we get to forget them,” Price said after last week’s Senate hearing. “I will refuse to forget those living behind the wall, because oftentimes, they are some of the ones that need us to be the loudest for their needs.”
Next, the Senate’s Finance and Appropriations committee is set to consider Price’s proposal.